Anniston museum flies in snakes for exhibit

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September 25, 2009

Anonymous The News Courier Fri Sep 25, 2009, 03:59 PM CDT

ANNISTON, Ala. (AP) — A plane carrying deadly snakes and other reptiles has delivered its creepy cargo to the Anniston Museum of Natural History.

Museum program manager Gina Morey said the reptiles will be featured in an exhibit called “Reptiles: The Beautiful and the Deadly,” which opens Saturday. It will include salt water crocodiles, turtles, a venomous snake, a venomous lizard and an 18-foot python.

Clyde Peeling, who flew the 19 reptiles Wednesday aboard his Cherokee VII, is owner of Reptiland in Allenwood, Pa., and has had experience flying venomous snakes and other reptiles.

Peeling said that years ago a python almost got into the control pedals of a plane he was flying.

He said he knows the reptiles well enough and, if they escape their coolers, chests or boxes, he knows not to make any sudden movements and to land as soon as possible.

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